Planning Assessments

Recently, I have been working closely with the Common Core Standard for Kindergarten Literacy:

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g. what moment in a story an illustration depicts). 

In this post, I will look at one of the objectives I created for this standard and establish three different types of formative assessments.

Objective

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to explain how each illustration gives clues about the characters, setting or events of the story.

Assessment #1: Think-Pair-Share

I believe it is important for students to express themselves and their thoughts. In the larger classroom setting, it is not alway easy for every child to talk especially if they are shy or hesitant to speak in front of others. Some students need more reflection time before they are able to answer a question as well and might feel on the spot if the teacher calls on them directly. It can also be challenging to have a detailed discussion if different students are throwing their ideas out there. Consequently, the first assessment I would like to do for this objective would be think-pair-share. For this assessment, I would ask them questions like "which illustration shows the setting of the story?" or "which illustration shows when Henry got his new puppy?" or "which illustration shows how Henry feels about...?" I could ask different pairs different questions about the same story so each group has to come up with their own answer and students are not repeating another group's answer.

First, I would  introduce the concept of think-pair-share, if we had not done it before. I would explain that first each student will think about the topic/question for about 2 minutes, then they will meet with their partner for about 5 minutes to discuss their the question and their ideas and, finally, they will share their ideas with the rest of the class. I will let them know they are allow to use paper to write down or draw their ideas, if they need or want to do so.

I would mix the reading levels up and mix different personalities to try to have the students balance each other out. I hope this would help encourage and motivate them as well. This assessment asks students to collaborate, communicate, use critical thinking skills, evaluate and use social skills.

Assessment #2: Matching

Since the first assessment is based on speaking, I would like for the second assessment to be different A visually-centered assessment could reach students who are more visual learners. With this assessment, the idea is to have students match images from a story discussed class with the words on the same page. The students will have to reflect on the illustration and what it shows in order to connect it with the words and the actions or events they describe. They must truly find a link with the words and the pictures. 

To keep it simple and focused, I would have images and text on a single sheet of paper from a story we discussed. The images on the left side in a column and the words on the right side in a column. The students would have to draw a line from the illustration to the correct words that describe the action.   

This assessment asks students to see the correlation between the illustration and the story text. I requires students to analyze, use critical thinking and productivity.

Assessment #3: Draw it

It would like the thirst assessment to be a little more in-depth. This assessment would have the students create their own illustrations to a very short story. I would give the students a short text, no more than three pages, that they have not read before. An example of a short story they could illustrate in three pages is:

Sam says “bye” to his parents. He leaves his house. He sees his friend, Emma. They walk to school. When they get to school they see all their friends playing in the playground. Sam and Emma go to the playground. The bell rings. All the kids line up behind the teacher to go inside. It’s time for school to start!

This assessment gives the students the freedom to be creative in their drawings while adhering to the story's plot. It asks students to use creative thinking, critical thinking, analyzing, problem solving, producing, productivity and initiative. After having been asked to do analyzing of the link between illustrations and story text in the first two assessments, this assessment has them create the link between the two. It will be interesting to see and have student share their different illustrations for the same story. 

Final Thoughts

In planning three assessments for the same objective, I wanted to plan a variety of assessment types that would reach different styles of learners and allow students to use an array of skills. I think that 1) think-pair-share, 2) matching and 3) draw it are all good ways to formatively assess the students as they are learning this objective. 

Sources

Dyer, K. (2013). 22 Easy Formative Assessment Techniques for Measuring Student Learning. Northwest Evaluation Association. Retrieved from: https://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/22-easy-formative-assessment-techniques-for-measuring-student-learning/

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/assessment/10-assessments-you-can-perform-in-90-seconds/

http://www.readtennessee.org/teachers/common_core_standards/kindergarten/reading_literature/rlk7/rlk7_assessments.aspx

http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-think-pair-share-30626.html

Sources for Images

http://www.k12reader.com/kindergarten-sight-words/

https://fr.pinterest.com/pin/464574517792375559/

http://www.123rf.com/photo_28423143_cute-little-preschool-children-drawing-with-colorful-paints-at-kindergarten.html

Understanding and Applying Standards

This week I looked at the Common Core Standards through special lenses. Actually, I selected one Common Core Standard to work closely with, to dissect and contemplate. I decided on the following Common Core Standard:

For Kindergarten Literacy

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

I chose to concentrate on this standard because reading is such a fundamental skill and a foundation for all areas of learning. It really takes its roots in Kindergarten, which I will be teaching next year, and a student's first initiation can affect how he or she feels about reading and even about school in general. I love reading and sharing books and stories with others that one of my most ardent goals is to try to instill a love of reading, or at least an appreciation for it, in all of my students. Even though I love reading and want to share it with my students, just reading the standard does not give a teacher any major clues as to how to go about helping students learn about the relationship between illustrations and the story. To really get to the heart of the standard, there are three methods to use to be able to break it down and scaffold it into different lessons: Unpacking A Standard, Backwards Mapping and Writing Objectives. 

Unpacking A Standard 

I found this first step, unpacking a standard, really helpful in understanding the essence of the standard. In looking at the verbs in the standard you are able to know what students need to do and what types of activities they need to take part in, to achieve the standard. The nouns, too, tell you about the content the students should be learning. Knowing these hints, to look at the verbs and nouns, was so useful to me in breaking down the standard and fully grasping it. I was also better able to understand how I could create effective lessons for my students. For example, the only verb in the standard I chose to focus on is the verb describe. At a first read and taking the standard as a whole, it seems pretty basic. But, in pulling out the verb and really thinking about it, I was able to consider the verb in different ways. Describe is often oral, but it can also be a written description or a pictorial description. So, in pulling the verb out of the context of the standard, I was able to come up with different ways for my students to communicate the connection between illustrations and the story.


Backwards Mapping

I really liked backwards mapping. It was quite a natural process because it makes perfect sense to me. In thinking about the end goal, and what I wanted my students to be able to do with the content and accrue in  knowledge, was a great way to start. When you have an image in your mind of your students succeeding with the content, then you can plan more easily the proficiencies, activities and assessments that will bring them to that place. I found this process rather instinctive.  I also felt that it flowed nicely from the unpacking exercise. With the standard dissected, it was easier to see how you could build up to the end goal. 

Mapping and Writing Objectives 

Having already unpacked the standard and having looked at it through backwards mapping, it was a logical step in the process to write the objectives next. The first two steps really give you a deeper understanding of the standard itself as well as different ways to approach it. When we have our proficiencies in mind from backwards mapping, we can create concrete and clear objectives. I found Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains very helpful when defining and writing my objectives.

G-O-A-L!!!

Overall, I found all three steps very valuable in the planning process. Independently, each strategy helped breakdown the standard into smaller, workable parts while together they created a scaffolded model of the standard in the form of objectives, proficiencies, activities and assessments. I will definitely use all three approaches when planning future lessons. 


Sources

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/K/

Clark, D. (2015), Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

NA. (2005). Effective Use of Performance Objectives for Learning and Assessment (For Use With Fink’s and Bloom’s Taxonomies). Teacher & Educational Development, University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Retrieved from http://ccoe.rbhs.rutgers.edu/forms/EffectiveUseofLearningObjectives.pdf

Sources for Images

http://www.slideshare.net/sknight/unpacking-standards

http://www.mapsandlanterns.org/backward-mapping/

http://nearsay.com/c/109347/85134/3-tips-for-massachusetts-real-estate-agents-on-creating-goals-for-2016

Standards and Backwards Mapping

When looking at the standards and classroom curriculum, it can seem quite daunting to plan lessons. But, it is helpful to keep the end goal in mind. Teachers can ask themselves, "what do I want the students to do with this content? or "What can they do with this content?" Therefore, it is best to starting planning your lesson beginning with the end. The reversed approach, called backwards mapping, can help teachers stay focused on the important aspects of content and not get bogged down skipping from one lesson to another without proper cohesion. 

Next school year, one of the grades I will be teaching is Kindergarten at an international school in France. The class I will teach is in the American section, so I will be following the Common Core Standards. For this exercise in backwards mapping, I chose the Common Core Standard:

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

I chose this standard because I am passionate about books and about reading. Personally, I

love reading and I want my students to be as excited as I am when they pick up a book. I believe that understanding a story through its images then through its words and understanding the connection between the two can be the foundation for a lifetime love of reading. Also, making connections between illustrations and the story can help students understand the different ways to read and tell a story. It can help develop students' critical thinking skills by opening their minds to the possibility of recognizing connections in other contexts and in other places, too. I think that these points are crucial to students and will help them greatly in the future. 

The Big Question: 

How do the pictures connect to the story?

Three Proficiencies

When students finish this unit based on CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7,  they should have the following proficiencies:

• describe the relationship between illustrations and the story                   

• identify the illustration that describes a specific event in the story and  identify what person, place or thing the illustration depicts 

• explain how illustrations help them understand the story

Three Assessments

The assessments for this Standard can take the shape of different forms, whether oral through description or visual through drawing a picture or writing a sentence. Here are some ideas:

• Student explains in his or her own words the importance of the illustration on a specific page in relation to the event, character or setting of the story on the same page.

• Student is able to match pictures with sentences from the story when they are presented out of order.

• Students can create their own images to accompany the story. Or, the student can create and image to illustrate their own writing. For example, "I like to play soccer" illustrated with the student playing a game of soccer with his or her friends. 

Three Activities

Activity 1

This activity focuses on discussion. The teacher reads the book "I Love My New Toy!" by Mo Willems out loud to the class. The story is about two friends, Piggie and Gerald. Piggie got a new toy and loves it until she things Gerald broke it. Another friend comes along and tell them it is a "break and snap" toy. In the end, Piggie and Gerald are happier playing with each other than with a toy. The teacher discusses the illustrations on each page and asks questions, like "How do you know Piggie is happy with her new toy?" or "How do you think Gerald feels when he breaks Piggie's new toy?" or "How do you think Piggie is feeling here?" The students describe the images in detail as they read the story.

Activity 2

The second activity builds on the first activity. The students pick their favorite part of "I Love My New Toy!" that they read as a class. They write a sentence about their favorite part. Then, they draw a picture to go along with their sentence. Finally, each student shares their sentence and picture with the class.

Activity 3

In the third activity, students will create a mini-book of their own. Taking images from "I Love My New Toy!" the students will glue them in the correct order in their mini-book. Then, on the last page, each student will write a sentence describing something he or she likes to do with his or her friend and draw a picture illustrating it.

In The End

After the unit has ended, we have come full circle. Knowing our big question and the proficiencies we would like our students to obtain from the beginning helps us achieve them in the end. Our lessons become more centered because we know our goal. 

Sources

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/%7E/media/ArtsEdge/LessonPrintables/grade-k 2/reading_illustrations_worksheet_rubric.ashx

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/K/


http://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-map-backwards-jay-mctighe-grant-wiggins

http://www.readtennessee.org/teachers/common_core_standards/kindergarten/reading_literature/rlk7.aspx

http://rpdp.net/pdfs/NACS_ELA/Kindergarten/Reading%20Literature/RL.K.7.pdf

Sources for Images (in order of appearance)

http://learni.st/users/crystal.schmelzer/boards/3705-common-core-english-standards-reading-information-grades-9-10

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier

http://www.amazon.com/Love-New-Elephant-Piggie-Book/dp/1423109619

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTK7435Wsmk

http://log3beganddevreadersemilyhelle.weebly.com/beginning-readerlimited-vocabulary-books.html

http://www.rmichelson.com/illustration/mo-willems/elephant-and-piggie/i-love-my-toy-p31/

http://www.poulton-le-sands.lancs.sch.uk/?page_id=139